MIAMI: A Miami jury decided that Elon Musk’s car company Tesla was partly responsible for a deadly crash in Florida involving its Autopilot driver assist technology and must pay the victims more than $240 million in damages. The federal jury held that Tesla bore significant responsibility because its technology failed and that not all the blame can be put on a reckless driver, even one who admitted he was distracted by his cellphone before hitting a young couple out gazing at the stars.

Jury deliberations have begun in a Tesla trial concerning a fatal Autopilot crash from 2019.

The jury verdict is one of the first major legal decisions about driver assistance technology that has gone against Tesla. Both Elon Musk and Tesla have spent years making claims…

Tesla must pay the plaintiffs $200 million in punitive damages, the jury said.